Mr. Denzil kentebe, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), has given assurance that the board will not relent in its effort to ensure that IOCs comply with tenets of the Nigerian Content Act. To him, achieving success in the implementation of Nigerian Content is of great benefit to every stakeholder in the oil and gas industry, including the international Oil companies (IOCs) and NCDMB.
Kentebe who spoke to Orient Energy Review at the 5th Practical Nigerian Content Forum in Yenagoa Bayelsa state, indicated that the Nigerian Content Act was not being implemented in an oppositional manner whereby the Board and the operators view themselves as adversaries.
Rather than adopt such a posture, he said the Board decided from inception in 2010 to collaborate with the IOCs and other operating and service industry stakeholders, adding that this model had proven very effective in stimulating compliance with provisions of the Act.
According to him, the developmental role of the Board was very critical and it involved close collaboration with stakeholders to develop in-country capacities and capabilities which make it possible to execute most industry projects hitherto taken abroad before the advent of the Act.
He explained that the underlying goal of the Nigerian Content Act is the development of local capacity and employment generation and Nigerians must be determined to pursue these in their quest for partnerships. He stressed that without building local manufacturing of components used by the industry, there would be limited Nigerian Content growth and creation of employment opportunities would be stunted.
He pointed out that the Board made it compulsory that any equipment supplied for use in the oil and gas industry must have a timeline for some of the components to be manufactured locally, adding that the initiative has started yielding positive results as some of the OEMs have begun to domicile the manufacture of their equipment components in the country.
According to him, the implementation process has transformed the oil and gas industry from a sector that depended on foreign inputs to one that develops and utilises local human & material resources and indigenously owned assets.
He said: “The Board’s interventions on compliance have increased participation of Nigerians in oil and gas contracts from less than 10 per cent to over 80 per cent. We now have a new class of indigenous entrepreneurs carrying out businesses that were hitherto done abroad.
“Prior to the enactment of the NOGICD Act, Nigerian indigenous companies were producing just three per cent of Nigeria’s oil and gas. Now Nigerian indigenous companies are producing close to 10 per cent of production output. With recent divestments and deliberate local content requirements, indigenous producers are set to achieve the target of 30 per cent contribution to production output by 2020.”
Kentebe who expressed the Board’s preparedness to galvanise the indsustry towards local construction, repairs & maintenance of marine vessels and rigs, announced that Nigerian built vessel be given first consideration in tenders along with Nigerian owned vessels from 2016.
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